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Can You Relate to This?
Business, like life, ebbs and flows. At times, most of us ponder the things that drive us nuts as we evaluate our career choice. These days our industry is facing more challenges than we may be accustomed to. How many of the following thoughts have captured your thinking at times?
- I’m burnt out. I’ve been doing this too long.
- The economy sucks. Many of my clients are out of business or have tight budgets. They either don’t buy or buy less.
- In almost every sale for commodity products, the price is being checked against an online source. Despite my large companies favorable price, online sources may sell for less.
- Supplier relationships are becoming more dysfunctional. Poor communication and poor customer service leads to problems.
- Inventory shortages seem to be the new normal. I hate having to sell something twice because the supplier is out of stock.
- Product safety is a new challenge and is confusing. The potential for disaster is great.
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Why Beein Edukated is Gud 4 U |
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 "Education's purpose is to replace an
empty mind with an open one."
Malcolm Forbes
“Education is what remains after one has
forgotten everything he learned in school.”
Albert Einstein
Many years ago I started in this industry as an apparel decorator. We were doing pretty well, but my wife saw the need to expand the business to include promotional products. I thought she was nuts but I went along with it.
Our first “new” opportunity came when one of our apparel clients asked about getting a product to promote their newest project. They wanted a custom cast replica of the cattle brand that was from the ranch they were building on.
Hah…I thought, let my wife find this product! Much to my surprise, we went onto our industry search tool and found a source for the product. The supplier was great and we completed our first order, which was about $10,000. Needless to say, I was then convinced that it made sense to sell promotional products, and our journey began.
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It's Like What Happened in California...Just 50 Times Worse! |
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November 9, 2011 - Once more our industry has suffered a hit, in part because of the lack of understanding about its true value. In a move with 50 times more impact than the promotional products purchasing ban in California by Governor Jerry Brown, President Barak Obama again puts promotional products under attack.
President Obama has recently issued an executive order cutting spending by 20% on “extraneous promotional items.” The order states that “agencies should limit the promotional items…in particular where they are not cost-effective.”
Prior to the order being issued, Washington news source The Hill reported: President Obama is set to unveil an executive order on Wednesday aimed at cutting wasteful spending on excess travel, printing, cell phones and government “swag." The "swag" under fire includes plaques, clothing, mugs and other agency-identified items distributed to employees.
"Swag" was used prominently in the recent Government Census. Shirts, pens, pad folios, bags and other branded items were used as incentives. In the previous Census, our company produced t-shirts. The sales process went something like this: "How many t-shirts can we buy with $5000.00? We have a government credit card."
We can all probably agree that government spending needs to be cut. But sadly, once again, the value of our industry is being devalued. What we sell is referred to as “swag.” No other marketing or advertising medium is subject to such a derogatory term. Yet we continue to hear it and in some cases, use it ourselves.
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Is Integrity an Inherited Trait? |
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Honesty…a Timeless Value
Business dealings fascinate me. Having a value system that is based on honesty and doing what you say,to me just isn’t that hard. And Idon’t think it is just because I am more seasoned in my age that I believe that. Lately, a few situations have come up in business that got me thinking about these things and the values I hold with high regard.
Let me be clear. I’m far from perfect. I’ve made many mistakes in my life and even with my best efforts; I know will keep making them. But I do have a heart to do the right thing and be a man of integrity. I didn’t grow up this way, but I developed core values through my faith and life experiences.
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A Supplier Nightmare and Why Go to Trade Shows |
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Would You Want Your Client to Take These Mugs?
After attending the Specialty Advertising Association of California (SAAC) trade show in California, I again have come back invigorated! Full disclosure here...I like trade shows. I believe good business is based on strong relationships and trade shows give me the opportunity to meet face-to-face with my colleagues. Trade shows also provide access to a variety of educational opportunities and product information that I can’t get from a catalog.
I had the privilege of visiting with PPAI President and CEO Paul Bellantone, CAE and Eric E. Ekstrand, MAS, PPAI Chairman of the Board. Click here for a 2-minute State of the Industry Address video with our Association leaders.
At this show, I had a problem resolution situation to deal with – a 288 piece terra cotta flowerpot mug order with a crooked imprint. This supplier had printed these before without issue. As with most deals gone wrong there are two sides to every story and I am willing to own my part in what went bad in this situation. One thing I did miss was not noticing when I placed the reorder that this supplier is no longer on our company’s Preferred Supplier List. On face value, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We use many good suppliers that aren’t on this list. But perhaps I should have noticed they had been removed from this desirable positioning and questioned why.
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Trust in the Industry Built on Paranoia |
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August 19, 2011
There’s a famous old saying, “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” (In the words of President G.W. Bush 42 “There’s an old saying in Tennessee. I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee, that says: ‘Fool me once...shame on...shame on you...if fooled, you can’t get fooled again.”) Trust. It’s not something our industry is known for.
Recently, PPAI announced a new “Hosted Buyer” program where a distributor attendee could buy a Friday-only show floor pass for up to two customers. The association did a poor job of announcing, explaining and creating a value proposition around a “sacred channel” issue and the interpretations of the initiative caused a strong to vehement negative reaction from the members and industry. The board quickly rescinded the decision and the program was canceled. Without discussing the merits and demerits of the program, this incident points out the ongoing paranoia within our industry and the issue of trust — or more accurately — lack of trust among channel partners.
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Do We Need a Website Like This? |
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Here’s the post: ShadySuppliers.com is now live! We're exposing the crappy suppliers in the industry and giving mad props to the ethical ones. Be sure to visit ShadySuppliers.com to stay in the loop!
We responded: Reluctantly, we're going to let this stay for the moment. There are always two sides to each story and speaking negative about companies is typically not positive. We will contact you personally to learn more.
Who's Behind this Website? We then discovered there was no contact information readily available. We requested that whoever posted this contact us personally with more details if they want to post on our Fan Page. We explained that we want to make sure we promote what's appropriate and beneficial for the industry. Suppliers sell direct, distributors buy direct. There are good suppliers and bad suppliers as there are good and bad distributors. We never heard from anyone.
The website landing page states: Some suppliers are cutting your throat by selling direct, and even contacting your customers after you send in an order! Find out who they are! The Shady Suppliers tag line is: "Taking your customers, like a thief in the night."
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Trade Shows...My Perspective. What's Yours? |
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 A Commentary by Jeff Solomon, MAS
There are few topics in our industry that stimulate more lively discussion then trade shows. Are there too many? What do you really get out of them? What will you miss if you don't go? And the question that seems to be hotly debated recently... should industry trade shows allow hosted end-users to attend?
I have positioned this commentary as my perspective and I invite you to contribute yours.
Full disclosure here... I like trade shows. I believe good business is based on strong relationships. Trade shows give me the opportunity to meet face-to-face with my colleagues and have access to a variety of worthwhile educational opportunities.
Attending trade shows does however represent a significant investment of time and money. In an age where ROI is coming under greater scrutiny, expenses are closely evaluated and the choice to attend must be based on what is best for each business.
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The Times They Are a Changing! |
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May 9, 2011 - This past Friday we launched a new feature on our FreePromoTips Facebook Page called “Happy Hour Friday (Because It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere).” Each Friday we encourage industry people post anything they want there. It can be serious, funny, videos, insightful quotes, business horror stories, supplier promotions…whatever! The best post wins an iTunes card. Brought to you by our friends from AIA.
A post by Mark Flyten from Image Builders in Minnesota was our FIRST Happy Hour Friday winner. Mark shared a marketing focused rewrite of Bob Dylan’s classic song, The Times They Are a Changing. Understanding that we are living in a season of change is something we will continue to address and Mark’s post gives us the opportunity to do it again. Thanks and congratulations Mark!
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Think This Can’t Happen to You? |
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The Reality of CPSIA!
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) has been a topic if discussion for a while. And it seems that up until now, distributors have been relatively insulated from the evolving standards that suppliers should adapt to in order to be compliant with CPSIA. That is changing.
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A Commentary from Jason Black, CEO, Boundless Network
March, 4, 2011 - Throughout history, there have been only a few times when entire generations follow a different path than their predecessors in business. In most cases the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree–many approaches to business and sales strategies remained consistent over long periods of time.
Right now is one of those rare moments. The world is changing, as I’m sure you know. Moore’s law says that technology performance doubles every 18 months; this evolution is shifting business strategies to the extent that the younger generation does business very differently than older generations.
Whether you are buying a new car, buying promotional products or communicating with your friends, you’re doing it differently now than you did 20 years ago.
My 3-year-old is a wizard on my iPhone. My 7-year-old is more proficient than me on her iPad. Today’s college kids can’t imagine a world (or a workplace) without the internet.
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Come Together...Right Now! |
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Back in 1966, an out-of-context off hand comment by John Lennon to a British journalist resulted in a Beatles Ban in the unenlightened American South. There was significant news coverage of gleeful teens and goggle-eyed adults burning their mountains of Beatle albums and memorabilia that was eerily reminiscent of Nazi book burnings during WWII. Not one of America’s prouder moments, especially considering how much those same items are going for on ebay these days.
Flash forward to February, 2011 and I’m dizzy with deja vu. Governor Jerry Brown declares a ban on promotional products. His position, widely covered by the media, is uninformed, offensive and demeaning.
But, to my mind, worse than Brown’s blatant buffoonery, worse than the insulting phraseology (pieces of plastic, chotchkies, freebies, swag), worse than the actual ban itself (working with any state government is a challenge at best and an exercise in low bid frustration at worse) is the news coverage of this ‘story’ by station KCRA in Sacramento, just like those witch-hunting Beatle journalists of 1966.
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February 2011 - Coverage in the media has drawn continued attention from some of your customers regarding the product safety of some reusable bags. These media stories, while naturally of great interest to your customers, have been great discussion but most often have proven to be inaccurate and, in some cases, self-serving.
As recently as last month, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. published test results in which they claimed a number of high-profile reusable retail “non-woven polypropylene” totes had failed product safety tests for lead and cadmium content. While the group tested 49 bags, they claimed 21 did not pass. While this makes for compelling headlines, a deeper look at their study showed that more than half of the bags supposedly reported high levels for reasons having nothing to do with the non-woven polypropylene at all. Ten bags purportedly had high levels in the polyethylene bottom boards, 1 reported high levels due to its insulating material (it was a cooler and the only insulated tote is the entire study), and 1 for its clear lamination shell.
In reality, these bags didn’t “fail” anything.
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Another Attack on Our Industry! |
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California Bans Promotional Products at State Agencies
California Governor Jerry Brown has issued a memorandum directing all California state agencies and departments to immediately stop purchasing “free giveaway and gift items—such as key chains, coffee mugs and squeeze toys” as part of his “continuing efforts to cut costs and tackle the state’s budget gap.”
As part of his effort to bring down California's $26.6 billion deficit, the governor has directed the state to stop giving out swag…or “stuff we all get.” In the news release, Brown said, “Not a cent of taxpayer money should be spent on flashlights, ashtrays or other unnecessary items, most of which likely end up in landfills.”
This demeaning description to our marketing medium sent shock waves through the industry, and garnered national attention. Governor Brown referred to promotional products as “these kind of plastic gewgaws.
Of course Governor Brown used promotional products in his successful election campaign.
Click here for the demeaning KCRA TV news report on this ban!
Click here for "Trinkets Not Made in Missouri Create a Sticky Situation!"
We have had the Pharma ban, "Killer Bag Issue" and now this California promotional products ban. In 2008 we did a story: What do Promotional Products Have in Common with Illegal Hand Guns. Click here for this outrageous attack on our products being penalized for being effective marketing tools.
FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS BELOW!
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Is Business As We Know It Coming to an End? |
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Most would agree that we are in "interesting" economic times. Those who have been innovative and positioned themselves uniquely have prospered. Those who have built their business by only selling products may be finding new challenges.
In my own personal business dealings, I'm seeing an alarming change that leads me to believe that business as we know it, is ending. "What! isn't that a bit harsh?" you might be thinking. I've been in this industry a long time, and our business is seeing more price pressure than ever due to this economy. This can occasionally make things challenging. I'm guessing that some of you can relate to these price checks?
Through the years, I've positioned our company a solutions provider and I taught seminars on this topic for years. There are situations however, when the buyer needs a commodity item and it's all about price. I've even noticed this happening with good clients where we have an excellent relationship. Some of the price pressure comes from management, who directs our buyer, to "check online for the best price." Has this been happening to you more than in the past? Are online "price checks" affecting you. Perhaps you can relate to this real life personal story. 
One of the pastors from our church needed pad folios for their regional conference. The company I am affiliated with hadsome of our good suppliers get together for a closeout show so I sent my client there. They did find some items they could use and purchased those, but they didn't find the pad folio item they need.
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No Fleas on Me. A Commentary from Industry Veteran, Nowell Wisch |
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I will celebrate my 35th year in the specialty promotional advertising products business at the 2012 PPAI Expo. I have seen more amazing things happen than I could have ever imagined in the last three decades. Along with profound change, I’ve witnessed profound stupidity and ignorance. I’ve seen tremendous intelligence undermined by human nature and abominable behavior. In short, not much surprises me anymore.
Perhaps the most disturbing change I’ve witnessed in the business is our collective refusal to accept that the world within which we practice our craft refuses to remain the same. We are parasites because we are the handmaidens of advertising for almost every commercial activity going on in the world. Indeed, our very existence is dependent upon others for our survival.
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2010 Election Results Open Doors for Manufacturers |
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 Editors Note: Our goal here is not to create a political discussion, although what happened November 2nd was certainly political. FreePromoTips tends to address issues from a slightly different perspective. We felt is would be interesting to do an election follow up from the viewpoint of a non-industry, non-political position.
This article was written November 4th, 2010 and published in Plastics News, a publication the covers the manufacturing of plastics. While this does not specifically address our industry, it does touch on how the election results may affect business in general.
We invite you to share your thoughts, by commenting at the end of the article.
It’s uncertain what the biggest-ever Republican gains in Congress ultimately will mean for business and manufacturing when it comes to public policy and legislation.
But at least two things are obvious in the aftermath of the mid-term elections Nov. 2 where the Republicans gained 61 seats to convincingly wrest control of the House by a 240-186 with nine seats still unresolved and also gained at least six Senate seats to narrow the Democratic majority in the Senate to 53-46, with only Alaska undecided where Republican Lisa Murkowksi, running as an independent, is expected to be the winner. (This article was published prior to the final results being determined)
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Were We Out of Line With Any of These FreePromoTips "Bits?"
We REALLY Want to Know!
 Many of you know that FreePromoTips is the industy's most popular business resource, presenting information in a variety of ways. We received an e-mail from a prominent industry figure questioning why a certain distributor company was not featured on a new section of FreePromoTips.com which had not yet to be formally launched. We dubbed this section, “Looking for a New Direction.” This is simply a page that enables someone to get a snapshot of distributor organizations who would love to have quality salespeople join their team. The heart behind this came from my own personal journey. I explain my take on this page.
In addition to being called a “loose cannon” by this well-known industry personality, in our e-mail dialogue, he brought up something else I have done that he found “utterly distasteful.” What was is that you might ask? Well you may be surprised but it’s the kid on a cheese grater slide we used back in 2008. If you missed this piece, click here. We received quite a few comments on this one…mostly favorable. Feel free to add your thoughts. This humorous image was used to draw attention to product safety in our industry.
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Online Price Shopping...Just Another Challenge for our Industry!
I’m a seasoned promotional marketing professional with years of experience. For years I taught education sessions on the value of selling solutions and not products or “stuff.” Today that concept still holds true, but the marketplace has changed.
Let’s be honest. Our clients can and will shop online.
In today’s business environment, occcasionally I feel inclined to do a Goggle search to see what my clients will find. This is happening even with good clients and not just the price shoppers. I hate that, but the reality is that in today’s economy, this is something we all need to consider.
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One of my good industry friends takes off for two months to spend time with his family. What...that's crazy you might think! He is the principal of a Top 50 promotional products company. As we were discussing some things this week, he noted that he leaves Friday for his two month time away. He'll be in a beautiful location fishing with his sons. I so respect his decision to do this. This does come with price, but it also is a clear indication of his values and underscores what is really important in life.
While I would love to take this kind of time off, at this point, it's not possible, but I am taking our traditional week vacation to Hawaii and we love that. The point here again...is take a break! In the end you will actually be more productive. Here is a great article on how to not burn out. As a confessed workaholic, I found the Tips below to be good practical things that we all can benefit from. (Even if we can't take an extended vacation.)
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 Recently, I did the very thing I HATE our clients doing. I shopped online to save a significant amount of money. Using this real world example, I wanted to share the dilemma we face and our customers face when purchasing products.
So...ask the question, what would you do?
For some time I had been lusting for a particular camera. Business starting picking up and I felt the time was right to buy it. I found the camera online at $150.00 less than my local store. The price included free shipping. I enjoy working with my local camera shop, where I have a good relationship. They help educate me and help me be successful in my photography efforts. (Does this parallel what we do for our clients?)
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Catalogs! Isn't There a Better Way? |
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 Recently I gave one of our team members the project of going through our catalogs. Hey...it's May and I figured it was time. It was obvious they were stacking up and each year I ponder the question...isn't there a better way? We receive SO many catalogs!
We receive catalogs from companies we have never done business with and probably will never do business with. We choose to use our preferred suppliers and unless we are looking for something off the beaten path, we're not going to go elsewhere. Why would we?
Sending catalogs costs our supplier partners a fortune...and I wonder how effective that investment really is? It's a company's money to use as they see fit, but might I be so bold as to suggest suppliers only send catalogs to people with whom they have a relationship with?
ISN'T THERE A BETTER WAY?
We want to hear from you on this topic and invite your comments below. Perhaps something productive will come from this discussion.
Here's a suggestion for suppliers...just send a Starbucks card to stimulate new business!
(Sorry...that was harsh.)
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What Do You REALLY Want in a Trade Show? |
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 In a recent commentary, we covered the new ASI Show in San Diego...providing our commentary and video on this inaugural event.
We received a few comments on the web site and many contacted us directly. Some took issue with one trade show producer and weren't too kind about it. The topic of trade shows are hot in our industry and we think there is much to be said about it. If you missed it, click here to see the story and our video rant on this topic.
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Do We Really Need Another Trade Show? |
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When a NEW trade show was announced in Southern California…you could hear a collective sigh across the country reverberating through our industry. Questions were being asked:
Why another trade show?
Why in this economic season?
Why is this a good idea?
Here is the FreePromoTips take on the ASI Show San Diego with short video clips.
We trust you will be able to get a feel for this inaugural industry event.
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A Paradigm Shift - Part 1 |
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Are We Using Yesterday’s
Tools for Tomorrow’s Business?
“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine." Robert C. Gallagher
The Paradigm Shift. Whether you believe it or not, the business world is changing. We’ve all seen it. While there are clearly success stories and opportunities, as a whole our industry is facing many challenges. In this economy we are dealing with reduced buying budgets, more price conscious buyers, legislative restrictions, environmental and product safety concerns. These are just a few of the things that affect our livelihoods. Click here for video commentary that introduces this topic.
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